Henrik Müller

Anything you recognise? Early 80s, I would guess. /Henrik

She is in Wigton, Cumbria at the moment /Henrik

Whoa! One them Texas thaings! /Henrik

This is no laughing matter - a coping saw works fine. No matter what tool, we can't get away from changing of the blade from one section to the next and I am sure that process is easier with the hand tool. I am still using the coping saw I got when I was 6 or 7. I thought it had disappeared when I needed it for my fretwork and I bought a new. I don't know where it was made (I won't mention the 'C'-word) but it has gone to the scrapyard now, after I found the old one. Things aren't what they used to be... 'cheap' seems to be one of the main driving forces today and the adverts might just as well say: "It doesn't work - but it is cheap..." /Henrik

I bought it in Ennnis in November - lovely, lovely stuff. Cool, relaxed, laidback and sweet - fiddleplaying at this speed is a (rare) delight - so many tunes are hammered to death by high speed. /Henrik

It's humour and completely trustworthy. /Henrik

I realised that he is playing Master Crowley's in Dmin and that I only play a few tunes 'there' (no black keys). But it turned out to be a holiday on the English. As usual I made a short and small file: /Henrik

Lovely, lovely - I look forward to the next! /Henrik

Hello, Michael - A very interesting offer, thank you! I have put it on my mind. /Henrik

The person behind the bar - works fine. She a pro and doesn't mind - but I can't count either . /Henrik

I recall the first time I met Jürgen and revealed the source of the metal caps on my buttons - his response was :"Haha - we have the same supplier!" /Henrik

Anybody remember the great, British, classical guitarist, Julian Bream? Surprisingly, he made the most amazing (guitar) faces. /Henrik

Perspex - I just happened to remember that it was in Shay Fogarty's Mrs. Crotty '04 report. It may belong to Mark Davies, for all I know - we can ask him /Henrik

...It reminds me of the plastic reedpan in a concertina I saw somewhere on this forum. Oh, yes. I forgot, in the last post. You are thinking of this one. /Henrik

Well, yeah - I did take a long, hard look at Geoff's winder. And wood? At heart, I am metal man, when it comes to precision stuff, but I didn't have the patience and time and funds to get someone to do it and I did send a loving thought to this /Henrik

...About multi layers, it may be okay for 2 layers like Henrick suggest. Ply wood is stronger than plain wood, it is the reason that it is used for the tuning bar in modern pianos. For a reed pan the reed slots needs a perfect fit for the reeds. This is difficult with cheap multi ply wood ... Yep - that's why I am thinking 2 layers could make is resonably warp-free, without interfering with the reed frame slots. I learned my lesson with plywood /Henrik

...Now I know what Tommy Williams' "Spring Time in Battersea" was really about. ... Peter, If am afraid that that one is a registered Jim Lucas-joke /Henrik Thought you would get that one, Henrik. Tommy Williams, the great Maccann Duet player, is best known for "Spring Time in Battersea", which was a "party piece". He worked for Lachenal; see link below: http://www.concertina.com/wayne/Wayne-Tomm...parts-1-2-3.pdf Regards, Peter. Oh, I do get it, Peter - I know the tune, I have the record (still trying to decipher what Tommy says), I am just saying that Jim Lucas beat you to it: he introduced the joke at the Scandinavian Squeeze-in some years ago when we were in spring-talking... /Henrik

I am no expert, but I have a good feeling about maple - put a file to it and it feels almost like hard plastic. I would also dare to make a sandwich of two layers at 90 degrees (breaking a rule here?). I guess the goal is to get it as stable and dense as possible - with a bit of acoustic background, I am no romantic when it comes to sound and exotic woods /Henrik

...off cleanly without clattering into the buttons rounds about. Perhaps my fingers are just TOO FAT! ... - or the EC layout is spaced too narrowly /Henrik

...Now I know what Tommy Williams' "Spring Time in Battersea" was really about. ... Peter, If am afraid that that one is a registered Jim Lucas-joke /Henrik

Ah, yes - the big question. But I recall that I recently found one supplier - the catalogue/site is in my Mac at work and I am now very motivated to go back next week and find it - /Henrik

With so much time on my hands I got the itch yesterday and occupied the kitchen table for a number of hours in order to make what I have been threatening myself with for a couple of years: No circles are round, no right angles are 90 degrees, but as an old saying in Denmark says: "You don't notice that when the music's playing..." I still need to get proper pliers with round jaws in order to make the "hook" correctly, but still... The first spring came out like this: Mind, the wire is too thin - 0.5 mm - 0.7 mm would be more suitable, but it's close enough to verify that the thing works. /Henrik

Hi, Michael - My comments on this: I tend to look - after 2 years playing the thing - at: low action (or full travel buttons) button diameter horizontal button spacing - as a single "playability" parameter. Larger diameter, because I find it pleasant and since the buttons go all the way down to the plate, it makes sense to me to have a little more space around them. On top of that we should probably add the shape of the button top: - flat - spherical with sphere diameter = button diameter - spherical with sphere diameter larger than button diameter (Yes, we are into nitty-gritty stuff here, but that's what we do in this forum, isn't it ) Ah - we need to add the spring tension as a final point... === A few button diameters from the real world: - A (44-button) Jeffries: 4.0 mm - A Wheatstone (56 button) EC, mahogany ends: 4.6 mm - A Wheatstone (48 button), EC, hex, metal ends: 5.0 mm - A Wheatstone (48 button Æola), EC, ebony ends: 5.0 mm - My little ol' Stagi mini wreck: 5.8 mm - The Slide Engine (my own): 5.5 mm - the pencil tops... (Could I choose freely, I would choose for 6.0 mm) But all this factors are very personal - people have different preferences, period. But isn't it interesting to see that the top instruments of the instrument with the most "room" between buttons, the Anglo, often has the buttons with the smallest diameter? Changing an existing instrument's buttons/action depth is basically risky, I think. The only "safe" way seems to be to have a full, completely new set of buttons made, to test. So - rambling ended. Not very organized... still on vacation /Henrik

Good, but not a new idea - here is a part of the hand-made poster for the Irish Festival in Stockholm (probably 1980): The artist was a musician Magnus Ek, a good concertina player, who played both EC and AC. Unfortunately, he dropped out of the Irish scene, I think to pursue a career in advertising (obviously as a graphic artist). /Henrik Edited to remove a word -

I don't know if this is usable or even helpful, but: I noted by coincidence that placing my ears in the near-field of the speakers (?!) and playing along was a real kick! Let me make myself more clear (or ridiculous): to be in the near-field off laptop speakers, requires that your nose is basically between "G" and "H" on the keyboard. This makes playing very difficult - the instrument is under the table... But you can achieve the same effect if you use (not head phones - too much isolation), but small ear phones, like you have with iPods and MP3 players. They leak sufficiently and allows you you to adjust the balance between yourself and the tune optimally. Dependent on your level and the tune, you will need to some way of slowing down the tune and of course it is no use if you are trying to pick your way through it the first few times. But do wait until wives and partners are out shopping, or else... But seriously - it can have the well-known session effect: You find yourself carried away, and playing things you didn't really thought you could. Around here, I am known for having a screw loose and family members no longer react to the fact that I seem to be writing a letter with my nose Give it go - but don't say you haven't been warned - /Henrik